Last year, an alleged “known gang member” was shot and killed by police in Los Angeles. But a video released on Friday by OC Weekly shows 23-year-old Noel Aguilar was hit in the back by two Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputies, who ignored his pleas for help as he lay dying.
The deputies claimed Aguilar, who authorities tried to blame for the incident, shot one of them in the stomach, but officials revealed that the deputy’s gun wound came from his partner’s gun.
“[O]n Thursday, officials said the deputy was actually hit by a round from his partner’s gun as they tried to arrest Aguilar near 69th Way and Long Beach Boulevard shortly before 10 a.m.,” the L.A. Times reported in June 2014.
“The first shot is not justified because the victim is very vulnerable, he’s on his side,” Angel Carrazco, an attorney representing Aguilar’s family, told the OC Weekly. “The other three shots from the back, every single one of those is unjustified. For me, it seems like it’s murder.”
Shortly before the video was released, CNN reported that accidental discharges from the LASD’s new Smith & Wesson M&P; 9mm went up by over 500 percent in just two years — from 3 incidents in 2012 to 19 in 2014.
“We conclude that the current training program is insufficient to overcome old habits learned on other handguns,” a 52-page report released by the Office of Inspector General County of Los Angeles states. “As a result, many deputies appear to be to undertrained for the weapon they are using.”
Watch the video: